Program Operations Manual System (POMS)

A minister must file an application for exemption, Form 4361, with the IRS on or before whichever of the following dates is later:

the due date of the tax return for his second taxable year in which he had NESE of $400 or more, any part of which was derived from the exercise of his ministry; or

the due date of the tax return for his second taxable year ending after 1967; e.g. April 15, 1970 for calendar year taxpayers.

Ministers who were in the ministry in 1968 or before and had only one year in which the minimum earnings test was met had until the due date of the tax return for the second year in which the $400 minimum earnings test was met to file an application for exemption.